As a 3rd-party consulting company he is just being 100% honest. He has no control over who or when any company decides they need his company's services.

Analogy: Transmission repair shops have no clue who or when or what type of repair will be their next customer. Yet they keep employees, they keep advertising, paying rent, utilities, etc. If you were a junior mechanic, would you be asking when will they be getting the next transmission in?

As to "There is lots of work but the projects are complex and need to be done quickly."

Respond with "What do I need to learn?" Always be pushing to up your game

The nature of consulting/contracting is that what and where comes next is 100% variable. If the work starts to slow down, that is the time for you to start keeping your eyes open for your 'next'. Possibly (not probably, but possibly) that next will come at a higher $.

That time of work slowing down may be coming, or may be here already. Thanks so much for all of your insight into this. This is my first ever consulting gig and with things (seemingly) winding down, life is becoming a bit stressful. Your analogy really drives home the kind of business he runs. I think I was a bit naive in my expectations about the nature of the job, when I think about your analogy.

That's a great response to him; I'm going to ask him that very question tomorrow.

I couldn't agree with you more on that point. As it so happens, I've been doing exactly that: actively studying up and learning new concepts/tools/frameworks on my own time. I'm glad you seem to think that that's a smart approach as well. Taking responsibility for my prospects by actively investing in myself. Thanks again.

In the starting a new git project branch, you say "You can bootstrap a new repository by using the command". How is a new-comer going to know what bootstrap means? I've been using Git for 2 years and I've never even heard the term myself in this context.

Really consider toning down the jargon, or at least defining the terms before using them.

25 years old, 6’2” 190 lbs, been training on and off for 5 years and pretty consistently for the past year

Current goal is to compete in Physique at a local show in August. Used to be a hungry skeleton when I was younger (like 135 lbs at the same height) so size has always been a big problem. I’ve also got a pretty bad serratus imbalance from playing tennis my whole life, so any recommendations for that would definitely be appreciated.

It likely doesn't matter regarding the industry. The hard truth today is that it's a numbers game. Keep applying. For my past two jobs, for example, I was well over 150+ during each hunting stint. It's ridiculous, but that's just how it is.

In 2014 I graduated with a Master's Degree in Biology. It took me 8 months to find a job. I've had friends that took well over a year to find something after HUNDREDS of resumes sent out. The job market is awful.

You definitely learned interpersonal skills while at McDonalds. Same with customer service. Did you ever manage while you were there? If so that's a big plus as well. You also bring the ability to work well under pressure. These are all things you can mention when you write about your relevant job history in your resume.

As for getting the actual skills to get yourself into and past the interview, make sure all your basic office skills are up to snuff (Excel, Word, maybe some VBA, etc). Then comes specialization: what kind of office environment are you looking to join and what position are you aiming for? Once you answer those questions: train. Learn. Make a portfolio. Do a boot camp. Go to school again. Google it or look for past reddit threads and then do what you need to do.

I'm a stereotypical INTJ. The hardest part is getting started. Once you're there, positive feedback takes over and the hardest part becomes stopping. Seriously.

To expand, realize that there are tangible, scientifically demonstrable mental and physical benefits to getting in good shape and staying that way. Logically, that's a good reason to start. If that's not enough, see if you can find something physical that inspires you and use that to get started. If not, fuck motivation and use discipline. If you can't do that, keep maturing until you can.

Once you're 3-12 months into fitness, you start seeing the results. And like I said, from there the positive feedback takes over. Not recognizing yourself in the mirror and seeing a fit body feels amazing. Don't bullshit me and say feelings are irrelevant. As a fellow INTJ, we both know better than that. Self-feelings are fucking important, and it's fantastic.